Nightmares, Scars, and the END
by WildFireWriter222
Summary: He had given in, and she was too late. There was nothing she could do besides beg and plead for him to come back to her. She knew it was in vain, that the words would never reach him. But there was still a sliver of her that hoped he was still in there. In the end, her kindness gave her scars that would never let her forget when her happiness had slipped through her fingers.
1. Chapter 1: The Scars That Don't Heal

_A/N: Hey! This is part 1 of my submissions for Nalu Angst Week 2017. I know, I know. I need to update Cataclysm. Don't worry. I have chapter 2 almost done (just have to do one final pass) and chapter 3 is getting on the road. After this week, I'll be dedicating a large portion of my writing time to finishing a few more chapters so that I can be a few chaps ahead and you guys don't have to be waiting for five years for an update. AAAANYWAYYY here is chapter 1!_

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Prompt: Scars

The Scars That Don't Heal

There was a time where she was looked on with admiration and envy. She couldn't walk down the street without getting catcalled or hear a woman scoff under her breath just because she wore something that made her feel confident, albeit a bit more immodest than some would like. . She'd be able to walk up to vendors and, if she played her cards right, she could land a pretty decent discount. It didn't exactly work half the time, but that was beside the point. She even managed to land a pretty big following when she had posed for _Sorcerer Weekly_ way back when and she hadn't even _tried_ for that one.

That seemed like years ago now

But now was different. Now she couldn't walk down the street without hearing a gasp or a whistle as someone caught sight of her. She had tried to cover it up. Tried wearing her hair differently, buying hats, nothing worked. She hated the looks she got now. Many just stopped mid-step and turned a different direction. There were the spare few, however, that when she caught their eye, they'd give her that look. That terrible look one would give a beat up stray that seemed to say "I want to help but get away from me".

Luckily, she hadn't gotten to the moms-shielding-their-children-from-the-sight-of-her yet, but she had a feeling that if anything would happen next, it would be that. It had gotten to the point where she didn't even bother looking people in the eye. She instead favored the various colored street signs or the cobblestone sidewalks or even the broken Aquarius key she wore around her neck. She tended to stay away from that one the most, lest she invite more unwanted memories back into her head.

She turned a corner and pushed on the glass door that released dozens of sweet aromas of pastries. She took a deep breath of the scent and stepped in. Erza's favorite cake shop had grown on her in these last few months. It was tucked away in a little corner of Magnolia that allowed it to be just out of sight but not quite out of mind. Granted, that was probably not so good for business, but by the state of its colorful awnings, pristine black and white checkerboard flooring, and a bright grin on the baker's face, she would been none the wiser. She took her place at her usual table hidden in the far corner of the shop, far enough away for regular customers to pay her no mind but close enough for her to see their faces and see reactions other than disgust or pity.

"Hey, Lucy," said Karen, placing a pitcher of coffee on her small table. "How're we doing today? Your footsteps seemed a bit heavy when you walked in. Anything you want to talk about?"

Lucy tried to smile, but the action didn't quite reach her lips. She wrapped her fingers around the pink mug she had seemingly adopted and sighed. Karen, sensing her unease, took the seat opposite her and stared at something just past Lucy's shoulder.

"Come on. You know you can't hide anything from me." She taps her cloudy eyes. "They say when you lose one sense, the others are amplified and I have a particularly good ability to tell when people are upset."

Lucy giggled. "You know that's not actually a sense, right?" She lifted the pitcher to her mug and poured.

Karen waved her off. "Pft. If it's not a sense, then what is it?"

"I shrugged," she said as her shoulders lifted.

"Ha! I could tell before you even-hey wait. Stop trying to change the subject."

Lucy sighed again as she sipped the warm, hazelnut blend of this morning's roast. Karen knew exactly what was wrong; the conversation would always go the same direction and end the same way: with Karen having steam coming out of her ears because of her inability to understand why people gave Lucy such dirty looks. Karen may have been blind, but she wasn't stupid. She knew about Lucy's scars, how they disfigured half her face, beginning above her eyebrow and ending somewhere around her shoulder. The thick, light almost-white lines scratched down her face like lightning over her eye and down her cheek, leaving large indents where there should have been regular, smooth skin. Where normal skin had been only a few months earlier.

"It's just the usual gawkers, Karen. Don't worry about it," Lucy mumbled from within her cup.

Karen continued to stare at the place above Lucy's shoulder though the girl could feel the heaviness anyway. After a moment, she sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop," Karen said, beside herself, but continued, "pestering you, that is. I won't stop worrying about you until you're out of this dark corner and out in the sun, for once."

Lucy let out a breath and rolled her eyes but inevitably smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

The old woman smiled that old lady smile where the corners of their eyes crinkle up, and you can practically see the sugar oozing from their pores. For all she knew, Karen _was_ oozing sugar and mixing it in with the batter for the bakery's signature cakes.

Her gaze followed the woman's disappearing back as she slapped at the doorway to the back room with her walking stick and dissolved into darkness.

Lucy turned back to the throngs of people that frequented this shop on early Sunday mornings like this one. There were always so many, and all dressed like they were going to a funeral or something. They weren't of course; it was just church, but to her, they might as well have been the same thing. Most of the time it was families that came in, wanting to sweeten up their weekend a bit with a little something extra. The children were always the funniest to watch; they'd get all excited at the sheer volume of sugary delights crammed into one, small establishment. They'd get that same, sparkling look in their eyes that always managed to drag a grin from Lucy.

A little boy ran up to the glass case where dozens of sweets stood at attention, waiting for their turn to shine. His hungry eyes swept over all of the different assortments of cookies and doughnuts and muffins. He turned to both parents and begged for more than one, despite the adults insisting for only one treat. His smile dropped a fraction as he turned back to the case. He lifted a finger to point, but every time he would figure out what he wanted, his eyes would catch on the frosting or fruit of another, and that finger would go slack. The baker laughed and reached into the display. He placed the filled bag in the child's arms and smiled when the child's face broke into an ear-to-ear grin. The boy practically leaped into the air with joy.

His toothy smile tugged on Lucy's heart, and the image of pink hair and a scarf faded over the boy's features.

Lucy's own grin dropped, and she shook her head. Heart in her throat, she closed her eyes.

It wasn't him.

It wasn't _going_ to be him. Her brain had to stop doing this to her.

She clenched her eyes shut and refused to open them until she heard the ringing of the front door and the sound of faded laughter. She squeezed her half empty mug and pushed her chair back. She passed the display case where the boy's breath marks were still visible, her eyes glazing over. Her body automatically placed the mug on the small counter and reached into her purse. She wished that those memories would just go away, that they'd just leave her to whatever sorry corner of her life she resigned herself to. Granted, she'd still be alone, but at least she'd be in peace.

Gray had insisted that she not try and forget about the whole ordeal; that it was for the best and would be good in the long run. She had scoffed and argued about failing to see any good to have come of it. He was lucky. He got out of it virtually unscathed. He moved on. He grew from it and became a better wizard because of it but left her in the dust. Everyone else was able to keep going, but there was a certain finality to it all that kept her behind. She refused to accept it: that this was her life now, and in turn, she had stayed behind.

"Lucy?" the baker urged.

Lucy blinked and realized that he had probably been speaking to her for some time now. Lamely, she stared back, hoping he would repeat what he was going to say.

"I'm sorry. I'm fine. What'd you say?" she said, her voice thicker than she had hoped.

He merely smiled and repeated.

"I was just asking if you wanted to take Erza's order back with you. I assumed you were going back to the guild hall after this?"

Lucy threw up the brightest smile she could muster, but even she could feel the fakeness of it.

"Sure thing! Did she actually pay this time or will you have to put it on her tab?"

The old man laughed, the sound resonating from his belly and creating a certain warmness that would have typically made her laugh as well.

"Nah," he said, "She's been pretty good these last few times. Anyway-"

He reached into the best lit part of the display case and slid out a cake roughly the size of a human head decorated with small strawberries that lined the edges of light, white frosting. It was complex yet simple in design: white buttercream draped over the sides like snowy curtains held up by small ruby weights. There was no fancy design, no elaborate scripture in the center. Just a crisp, clean white cake with strawberries being the only source of color. The dessert felt wrong in her hands. She stared at it with a particular disdain and jealousy even. Here was something coated in white that others looked at with delight whereas here she was in the same situation but looked upon with revulsion if they even looked at all. She knew it was just a cake and that it wasn't even alive, but she couldn't help but look at it with longing and envy.

"Make sure this one lasts more than a week this time?" he said, another smile playing on his lips.

Lucy nodded and watched as, just like everyone else in this damn town, his eyes involuntarily shifted to the white lines carved into her face. She had gotten used to the stomach drop and embarrassed flush in her cheeks, for the most part, but that didn't stop this one from hurting any worse. Her eyes darted to the floor, and she pushed open the door, barely hearing the chiming bells as the ringing in her ears took over.

Her walk to Fairy Tail had generally been uneventful. Normally, she'd be able to handle them staring and watching her, their deep gazes always stirring something inside her that made her feel both out of place and itching to get out of her skin. Normally, she'd be able to blow off those feelings and hope that they'd just disappear. But for some reason, today just wasn't letting her have it.

By the time she reached the large, wooden doors to the guild hall, she had been on the edge of tears and itching to scream and cry and be anywhere out of public eye. A few more minutes and she'd be able to do just that. She just had to brave them. The guild.

The guild always was the worst to come to. It was just like walking in the streets except they pitied her not only for the scars but who gave them. They had seen what she had gone through. Had been there when she had received her wounds. Had been there when her deepest and still open wound was created. Seeing them used to bring a smile to her face and make her finally feel like she belonged somewhere. Now, she had never been more out of place, like a puzzle piece that you had tried to squeeze into a position only to find out that it wasn't even the right color, to begin with.

She silently crept to the table she knew Erza would be and placed the cake on the edge. The guild hall quieted at her appearance, and that only made her stomach drop further. She turned without another word and started back towards the entrance. She hated encounters like these, the ones where she couldn't open her mouth or else she'd say something stupid or burst into tears. She couldn't face them when they looked at her like that. Wood scraped against wood as Erza stood from her chair, mouth likely agape to say something but Lucy refused to turn and face her. Her now free hands lifted to squeeze her forearms. She trudged back to the doors, eyes never leaving the hardwood floor. She gritted her teeth and refused to cry in front of them, lest they pity her even more than they did now.

"Let her go, Erza," a deep male voice said behind her.

"I can't keep this up much longer. It's been almost a year, Gray."

The frustration and waver to her voice almost cost Lucy right then and there. She closed the thick doors behind her and almost slid down their forms, just as she did a few months ago.

"It's different for her. He wasn't just her friend."

"Yes but she's our friend and she's hurting."

"Exactly. We had to figure out how to cope on her own. You have to let her do the same."

She tried not to hear the tail end of their conversation, but she couldn't help it. Damn doors, despite their size and thickness, were somehow not sound proof. She broke off into a run to Strawberry Street. Unable to deal with any of this any longer. She ignored the staring, the noises of disgust and surprise when she raced past people on the road. She focused on the pounding of her feet on cobblestone, of her labored breathing, of the tears she gritted her teeth to keep in check.

She slammed the door to her apartment closed and leaned against it for a moment. If only she had never gotten these damn scars. If only people weren't so quick to judge and didn't feel so sorry for her.

She ripped her t-shirt over her head and flung it somewhere in the corner of her room. Her bra was next to follow. She stomped over to her full-length mirror and switched on her bedroom light. As she lifted its edges, she bared her teeth. The thick white scaring had only gotten worse as time went on. At least it was covered by bandages when she was first attacked. That way no one could see how bad it really was.

Her fists clenched. A rapid breath of hot air whistled through her teeth. Blood raced past her ears, and she narrowed her eyes on the carvings that dug into her skin like the claws of the creature who had given them to her. She wished that there was something that would get rid of it. Something to finally rid her of one last thing to remind her of when she lost a part of her heart.

The angry tears finally raced down her cheeks, and she screamed. Her fingers clawed at the marks, digging into her flesh and trying to rip the scars from her skin. She knew it was in vain. Magic didn't work. Medicine didn't work. Porlyusica exhausted her resources just to make sure she just survived rather than worry about her skin in the future. She scraped and clawed and scratched at the white marks. She tried to ignore the stinging pain that followed. Her fingers went numb and white became pink became red.

She continued to stare at the white veins, letting what little blood she could draw out dribble into the small crevices and crack in its form. She watched as they turned back from red to pink to white again and suppressed the urge to scream again at its stubborn resilience. Not only had it been able to recover like everyone else in her life but it also left a visible, permanent wound that mimicked the one she felt inside. The emptiness that accompanied her everywhere she went and left her feeling hollow and incomplete. She was a Rubik's cube without color. A dull shell with no worth other than to take up space someone could otherwise use for something better.

A small rapping on her window drew her out of her reverie for all but a moment until she saw who it was at her window. A flying blue cat floated into her room and settled on her pillow silently. She secretly missed the way he would not stop talking about fish, about Carla, about anything. Now it was a chore to get him to say anything, let alone eat. He didn't comment on her state of dress nor the disorganization of her usually pristine room nor the tracks of dried blood trailing down her scars. He only stared at her with wide eyes.

Lucy turned to her dresser and pulled out an old t-shirt that wasn't hers and a scarf that wasn't hers. She padded to her bed and pulled back the covers despite it only being one in the afternoon. Time hadn't been relevant to her for quite a while now, and she wasn't entirely sure it ever would.

Happy plopped down next to her and curled up inside the scaled scarf Lucy had loosely wrapped around herself. She tugged it up and over her nose, trying desperately to smell it again. The unique scent of sandalwood and smoke that used to inhabit every inch of his scarf and shirt but was now slipping through her fingers as he had. She tugged it further up her face and buried herself into it. She squeezed her eyes shut as a fresh wave of tears washed over her. These were the ones she hated the most. They often came to her at night when Happy would show up, and she'd have to get his things out. The tears that left no sound. No sobs, no hysterics. Just her and her sadness.

Her memories weren't done with her tonight, though. Tonight they wanted her to relive every second, every moment that had changed her life. Tonight, they wanted her to suffer again. Maybe it was because of all the thought she had about it today. Maybe it was because of her inability to block out the stares today or maybe it was just because of that boy whose smile so much resembled his. Maybe it was a sign that she just needed to move on. Maybe. Or maybe it was her own sick way of making herself finally feel something. She just wished that it hadn't been because of him.

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 _A/N: Damn talk about a heavy chapter. Poor Lucy...can you believe that I just want my baby to be happy? What'd you guys think? What do you think of Lucy's mental state in this chapter? What could have affected her so much? And what gave her her scars? Let me know in the reviews what you think!_

 _(please make sure to leave spoilers out of the reviews!)_


	2. Chapter 2: Just Another Sleepless Night

Prompt: Nightmares

Just Another Sleepless Night

No sooner had her eyes closed had her mind drifted into an almost seamless state of fogginess. The interior of her room vanished, the presence of the other blue furred body dissolving before she could even react.

She sat there for a while, staring into a black void. There was no faint smell of sandalwood, no fan slowly whirring in the semi-darkness, nothing but the black nothingness. Thoughts stopped forming, and time itself seemed to cease. She just floated there like a ghost surely felt as they waited in purgatory.

The edges of her consciousness seemed to shift and a slight weight pressed on her from all angles. Colors began to flare up at the forefront of her vision, blurry but still ever present. She started to smell the subtle warmness that wafted into her dream, one that reminded her vaguely of the guild hall. There was still something lacking in it, something off. It was as if someone had tried to recreate that scent of beer and other humans but couldn't quite figure out that last ingredient.

Her vision shifted again and more colors coming into view. Colors became blobs. Blobs became somewhat recognizable people. They didn't really look like their real-life counterparts, rather electing for a more blurry, ghost-like entity but something inside her could easily identify them. A blurry blue ball had plopped down next to her elbows resting on the table and dug into what looked like, and smelled like, his newest catch of fish. She didn't need her brain reminding her of his name to know that the figure was Happy. Erza, or the blurred figure with distinct red hair that belonged to no other, sat on her right, her legs more than likely crossed and staring at the two at the other end of the table. The aforementioned other two took the forms of two blurred out figures, one with a black top and the other with…pink. Gray and Natsu, likely going at it again, she mused. The sight of his unruly pink hair and the sound of his name on her tongue twisted her stomach. Her heart tugged.

She swallowed and returned her focus to the bickering pair despite not being able to quite comprehend their words. The five of them sat around a table together, laughing about something stupid one of them had said or yelling at the other for trying to pick a fight with the other. Normally, Erza would have intervened by this point, but Lucy guessed that she was either too preoccupied with eating cake or frankly found the two's actions trivial at best, preferring instead to stay in the comfortable chaos that surrounded them from all angles. She felt her laughter bubble into her chest and couldn't help but release it as well. This automatic sense of belonging, of home, kept her at peace, kept her whole.

She begged her mind to let her live in this moment, to relish in it, if only for a moment.

Her consciousness had other plans, as it normally did, and she felt the solidity begin to slip around her.

She watched these seemingly inconsequential moments unfold from an omniscient standpoint. She was in her body yet…not. Like someone was conducting her like a puppet and left her consciousness to fend for itself. She saw her mouth move, felt her body lean forward and watch the two boys at the end as they went at it. She giggled yet again but didn't feel the happiness from it, not really.

Something about this dream felt…off. A sense of dark foreboding washed over her and the dream seemed dripped and melted from her vision.

"No!" she cried out, finally in control of her voice again. Her hand reached out, desperately trying to grab at the memory. She knew what was coming next and tried in vain to hold onto something, anything, to keep from seeing it again. But it was too late, and her mind was morphing again.

She could feel her brain working as it reformed her dream. In the darkness, she could feel the heat of the fire, smell the blood from her comrades. Her view faded into focus again. A scream erupted from behind her and instinctively turned in its direction.

Her world flashed into vivid focus, each tiny detail sharpening with life-like accuracy. Her breath caught, and the hair on her arms stood on end.

The surrounding buildings were burning and crumbling and falling to ruin. There was just so much chaos everywhere, so much confusion. Chunks of heavy debris peppered the small clearing around her and fires blazed even in areas where there was nothing to burn. Smoke clouds billowed into the sky like dark cotton candy. Its stench wafted around her, coating her in a layer of soot and burrowing its way into her nose.

She spared a glance down at herself to see that she was not without injury. There was a pretty sizable gash on her leg, and if. Lucy thought that she would have felt a break, at the very least, but her arm was the least of her worries.

Screams surrounded her, seeming to echo along the buildings and bounce around her head. She slammed her hands to her ears, but the screams kept coming. Grunts and war cries sounded around her as they attacked a shadowy villain. She watched as they threw everything they had at it while it only laughed and slashed their attacks away like flies.

"Lucy!" a woman screamed behind her. Lucy whipped around, but the figure sped past her in a blur of red, making her hair fly back at the wind she had kicked up with her speed. "Stay back!"

"Don't worry, Lucy! We got this!" cried a man from her other side. She turned again, but he too raced past her.

They both charged at the cackling monster whose voice had taken on a more demonic form. Lucy opened her mouth to make a sound, but nothing came out. She gripped at her throat in confusion and tried to take a step back. Her feet remained rooted to their position, refusing to budge even an inch.

A bright flash blinded her for a moment. She tried to shield her eyes but inevitably closed them against the blinding light.

When she opened them, the scene had changed. The once rugged Magnolia looked hellish, more so than it had been before. She turned to look at her surroundings again only to stop when her eyes landed on the three bodies surrounding her. The first had fiery red locks but also a bright red pool surrounding her and reflecting the fires that burned her home around her. Broken pieces of silver lay scattered about her broken form like fallen leaves. The woman didn't move, didn't breathe, didn't even twitch. Just lay there a stiff as a board. Lucy's uninjured hand shot to her mouth. She stumbled back, accidentally nudging the other figure with her foot. She whipped around and lost her footing. A sharp pain shot through her hips and wrists but she couldn't take her eyes off the person in front of her…or what remained of the person. She tried to clench her eyes shut, tried to shift them away, but her body stayed fixated on his charred flesh and crumpled form.

Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. Her breathing so labored that her head lightened and black dots peppered her vision. Finally, her body listened and shook away the dark specks, allowing her to avert her gaze only for it to land a few feet away from her on the final form. Her heart dropped and blood drained from her body. Warm tears pricked the back of her eyes as she slowly crawled forward.

Shaky hands reached forward to his bruised and battered form. Tentatively, she touched his blackened, blue fur and crumpled when she felt how cold it was. She reached her trembling fingers around his small blue form and pulled him to her chest. She cradled him to her chest as sob after sob racked her body. Happy, the annoying yet loving cat that had wormed his way into her heart, lay in a battered heap in front of the very person he was trying to protect. She had stopped asking why the world refused its endless onslaught on her and how it could be so cruel.

A deep, gut-wrenching chuckle sounded from a few feet away from her. It never said anything, never asked for anything...yet took everything she wanted and held dear as if it were nothing. She carefully placed the small bundle next to her and out of the demon's sight. She clenched her fists and stood. She lifted her eyes to face him, that blackened monster that had taken everything from her.

Its entire body was made of shadow and seemed to drip corruption and darkness from its outstretched limbs. She stared into its sharp, golden eyes without backing down. Refusing to obey her bodies trembling fear and need to surrender. His curled horns jutted out of his forehead and looped around so that their dripping tips pointed behind him and protected his neck from a possible attack. Inky, black wings stretched to their fullest span behind him, their sheer size enough to wrap around them both and still have room for him to finish her off. But today was not the day she died. Today was not the day she left this earth.

"I know you're still in there! I know you can hear me!" she cried at the creature, trying to make her voice stronger than she knew she was.

The beast snarled and dropped into a crouch. Lucy pressed her nails further into her palm, feeling the breaking of skin. She had to keep this up. She couldn't lose hope yet.

"You're stronger than this, and you know it! You can't give up like this!" she cried.

A roar, gruesome and petrifying, erupted from the demon's maw as he pounced. He landed on Lucy in an instant and raised his razor sharp claw. Her heart stopped. She clenched her eyes shut, pleading for it to be quick. She felt the warm liquid before she felt it. She felt it seep into her hair and roll past her ear. It trickled down her neck and coated the whole right side of her face.

The weight disappeared as fast as it had appeared and when she wrenched her eyes open again, she realized that the scene had changed yet again. That and half of her vision was completely black. The area from her shoulder to the right side of her face that two seconds earlier had been exposed to the extraordinary blaze of Magnolia now lay covered under thick and uncomfortable gauzy material.

The demon still stood before her, but this time, he seemed a lot more drained as if the attacks were finally getting to him. She could see the way his chest heaved, and his once cocky demeanor sagged. He was bent over slightly. He held one arm close to his chest and closed his wings behind him.

Her friends were nowhere to be found. The entire area was clear of rubble. No fires. No buildings. No screaming. Just a smoky mist that circled them like a pack of lions stalking its prey.

Lucy glared at the monster and summoned her stardress. Despite her narrowed eyes and bared teeth, she couldn't help the tears that flowed from her eyes. That small sliver of hope she had started her dream with struggled to stay afloat amidst a sea of doubt and despair.

"Please." Her voice quivered and barely made it above a whisper. "Don't make me do this."

A final strand that barely held her heart in place snapped when the creature bared its teeth and snarled. The bright grin was gone, teeth too sharp to even remotely resemble his.

"I don't know why you keep fighting. He's gone. I made sure of that the moment I took over. And you know it," it growled.

Those words, no matter how much time had passed since that day, would never leave her head. Would never stop their unending reverberating orbit around her mind.

His eyes narrowed, taunting her. Her throat tightened. There was no trace of onyx anymore, solid gold swallowed it whole and drowned any remaining trace of him.

The dam shattered like glass releasing furious; hot tears streamed down her cheeks, soaking her already bloodied bandages. One blade slipped from her grasp and gripped the other with both hands, knuckles white. She shrieked an inhuman scream that almost mimicked that of the demon's. Her body raced forward, and she plunged the sword deep into the shadowy demon's withering form. The demon's golden eyes bulge wide, and he lifts an arm to throw one final attack her way. Before she could think, she rips the blade from his thick body and stabs it straight into its heart.

Its dark body froze, claws outstretched and inches from her head. Its mouth dropped. It struggled to make a noise but couldn't get enough air. Time itself seemed to stop as the demon's blood poured from its wound, coating her blade. Warm liquid dripped onto her face and mixed with her salty tears to cascade from her chin in full, pink drops. She didn't need to look up to know that the blood was from the demon's gaping maw above her.

She heard its breathing struggle, felt its energy drain from its taut muscles that pressed against her chest. With a grunt, she ripped her blade from its body. It crumpled to the ground with a soft thud.

A few moments later, Lucy released a barrage of wails as golden particles filtered through her reaching fingers.

That night, she was lucky if she got any more sleep.

Happy squirmed in his comfortable ball with his head buried underneath the thick, comforting material of Natsu's scarf. The soft, golden rays of mid-afternoon that filtered across Lucy's wood floor replaced with a suffocating darkness that pressed at him from all angles. A quick glance at the digital clock on Lucy's nightstand confirmed that it was, in fact, the middle of the night. He felt the girl against his back twist and turn in her sleep and tried his best to ignore her. It had been almost a year, but Happy had yet to get used to her nightmares. They both had trouble getting over what had happened and were soon nearing the precipice that marked their inability to overcome such an obstacle as this.

Happy wasn't dumb. He knew what was going on. He was aware that his home would never be the same so long as fifty percent of them was gone. He had decided long ago that being around someone who was going through the same thing he was, if not a bit worse, was better than sleeping alone in a house that did nothing but remind him.

Lucy shifted wildly against him. Happy frowned and stood to turn and face her writhing form. It always was the same: She'd start off smiling then slowly shift into a darker, more terrified Lucy. She would kick and thrash and cry out as she got deeper and deeper into her dream. Sometimes she'd wake, other times she'd just cry herself to sleep.

Happy had his fair share of nightmares but those he usually experienced during the day when he would sleep the longest. But even then, they were never as severe as these. He couldn't blame her. He hadn't been the one to commit the most. He wasn't the one that delivered the killing blow. He had just heard about everything from a third party and saw as Lucy stepped into the guild hall, her eyes bloodshot and wide, her bloody sword hanging limply by her side and the lack of color in her entire figure leaving her looking like an empty shell. An unpainted doll.

He glanced down at her when he heard her sniff. His heart ached for her, more than he would admit. The line of silent tears trailed perpendicular across her nose, reflecting the bits of moonlight filtering through her window still slightly ajar. Her fingers instinctively lifted the edges of the scarf over her nose and burrowed into it as much as she could.

He waited to see if she had truly settled down for the night. Her ragged breathing steadied. Her kicks morphed into the occasional twitch and her eyes, which had been clenched with a death-like vice, relaxed. She looked almost fake, peaceful and calm.

Happy padded over, circled a few times, and settled in a curved crevice at the base of her ribs but still in contact with his scarf. Just as Happy's eyes closed and his breathing evened, he heard her whisper the word that almost made him lose it right there.

"Natsu."

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 _A/N: Yikes...talk about a HAUNTING experience, huh? No? Just me? Alright... Well we figured out how she got her scars, visible and...not so visible. I just can't stop torturing her can I?_

 _What do you guys think? What could that creature in her dreams be? Why was Lucy pleading with him? And what could Natsu have to do with it?_

 _(please make sure to leave spoilers out of the reviews!)_


	3. Chapter 3: The Beginning of the End

_A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in two days. I was against the wall in my never-ending battle against the evil Procrastination and Self-Doubt. It's a wonderful thing, I know. I'm going to be posting the next chapter in a little bit as well; got to go back and add a little part so this character isn't too OOC_ ahaha _. Then I'll run it through Grammarly and then it'll be done. So just hold out until then and I swear you won't be disappointed. ANYWAYYYY enjoy the next chapter!_

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Prompt: END

The Beginning of the End

Eight months earlier

Lucy's alarm screeched in her ear, ripping her eyes open and had her sitting upright in her bed faster than you could say "Aye." All the blood rushed to her head, sending stars in every direction. God how she hated having that damn alarm clock. She'd only bought it because Erza kept insisting that "to be the most productive, you must start the day off with a bang," or something. Now she was seriously considering throwing it from her second story window. But for now, she just settled on slamming the off button and smothering it with a blanket.

Lucy rubbed the sleep from her eyes and glanced out the window. At least it had woken her when the sun was _actually_ up, rather than yesterday when it was still the middle of the night. She groaned and padded to the bathroom.

Half an hour later, surprisingly fast for Lucy, she was showered, dressed, and marching down the street towards Fairy Tail. Magnolia was alive and bustling, even this early in the morning. The baker across the street placed all sorts of treats and confectionaries out for display in his windows and waved to her as she passed. The local fruit vendor was just arriving and setting up his stall, ready to take on a day of sales and hopefully leave without any rotting or bruised produce. Her favorite yogurt shop was just opening for the day, the elderly owner flipping over the closed sign and waving at Lucy as she passed. She smiled and took in a deep breath of fresh, spring air.

Her hands pressed against the rough wood of the guild hall doors. The scent of beer and fried food wafted in through the open doors, instantly easing the tension from her shoulders. The only thing unusual about the guild hall was the sheer lack of anyone, really. Mira still held her place by the bar, gently wiping down the glasses that were surely used the night before, Cana in front of her drinking from a wine glass, instead of her usual barrel of alcohol. Max swept through the rows of tables and chairs, too preoccupied with cleaning to notice her walk in.

Lucy padded to the bar and took the seat next to Cana, slamming her head on the table the instant she sat down. Despite being up and out of the house in record time, her brain was still in sleep mode. She automatically nodded when Mira asked her something, not giving much thought to what the bar maid's muffled voice had said. Mira slid a small plate of eggs and bacon towards her a few minutes later, a mug of coffee following soon after. Lucy blindly reached for the mug and brought it to her lips.

"I don't know how you can stand that," said Cana, gesturing to her mug.

Lucy rolled her eyes and lifted her head to face Cana.

"Says the girl who only ever drinks one thing," Lucy countered.

Cana's mouth opened then closed again, as she thought of what to say next. She ended up smirking and tilting her glass in Lucy's direction.

"Touché."

Lucy picked the fork from its thrown position beside her and poked at the eggs haphazardly. Her eyes felt heavy, and she couldn't help the yawn that slipped out.

"Dang seems like they partied hard last night, huh?" she said to no one in particular. She continued to stare at the breakfast and after a second started eating.

"Well you know how they are," Mira started, her ever-present smile visible. "Most of them collapsed in the guild hall, but I kicked them out pretty early this morning."

"And you're still here this early?" Lucy said, almost wrenching her gaze from her plate. Mira looked unfazed by the lack of sleep, her face bright and clear as usual.

"Whatever would we do without our responsible barkeep and mother hen, Mirajane?" Cana said with a wink.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I was going to comment on your being here early too, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

Cana smiled and wrapped her arm around Lucy's shoulders, nearly causing the fork to stuff its way down Lucy's throat.

She was gagging when Cana said, "Hey, the earlier I am, the more booze I get. Haven't you heard the saying 'early bird gets the beer'?"

"I don't think that's how that's how it goes," Mira mused.

Cana rolled her eyes and lifted the arm from Lucy. Lucy's eyes watered, still recovering from the almost suffocation by fork. Her hands sought after her mug and greedily gulped it down. She tried to ignore the course, burning as she chugged the coffee, instead relishing in the relief it gave her when she could finally breathe.

 _Being without taste buds for a while was a hell of a lot better than dying,_ she thought.

It wasn't until about ten that morning that people started filing in, most making a lethargic beeline for the bar begging for Mira's hangover-cure-all. It got to a point where, after seeing Mira overflowing with the numerous requests, Lucy had decided to help the poor bar hand. By the end of it all, Lucy was sat slumped over the bar and wishing she could just go back to bed and the bar looked a lot emptier, and a lot dirtier, than it had when she arrived.

Lucy twisted in her chair to watch as the life slowly returned to her insane guild. Elfman and the Thunder Legion were the worst victims, still slung over a table in the darkest corner of the room, groaning about headaches or how men never got drunk. Alzack and Bisca along with Team Shadow Gear, well just Levy really, had abstained from the party, instead focusing on their daughter or pouring over books. Gray and Erza had been the quickest to recover, Erza already starting on her morning dose of confectionaries whereas Gray was helping Juvia through a particularly uncomfortable hangover. Well, it was more like she was sobbing while holding onto him for dear life while he just stroked her hair and let it all pass. Wendy was the only one moving any faster than a snail's pace; she raced from table to table, administering varying degrees of her affectionately named "Hangover Magic" as Mira's cure-all slowly kicked in.

It took her a second to realize that something was off, not quite right. It was as if the guild hall was warm and welcoming but that there was just one piece, one portion missing from the intricate pattern. Her smile began to fall as she glanced at all the faces around the hall. Erza, too, had lifted her head from the basket of breakfast sweets to sweep the hall. It was just too…quiet. Too calmfor this to be right, even for the morning.

The answer hit her like a freight train, and she didn't know why it took so long to figure it out.

There was no arm slammed over her shoulder, no one yelling at her to pick a job, no fighting, nothing. Just an eerie calm that began to press on her like a thick, woolen blanket. No blue cat sat on the bar top, happily munching at today's fresh catch of the day. No dragon slayer stood beside her, bragging about his latest fight with Gray.

"Natsu," she murmured.

Her mouth parted as she turned to Mira, ready to ask her about the dragon slayer.

The great, wooden doors of the hall slammed open as a something came whizzing in her direction, slamming into her chest. The wind rushed out of her, and her body crashed to the ground with a bang.

" _Lucy!"_ screamed the creature sobbing in her chest.

 _Happy,_ she realized as she glanced down at the blue cat. His claws dug into her shirt as if his life depended on it. His tiny body trembled violently as each sob racked his body. The entire guild froze, their eyes glued to Happy. No one dare say a word. No one even breathed. Lucy's heart picked up, and her eyes widened. She tentatively placed her fingers on his fur, lightly stroking it in the hopes that he would calm down if only a fraction. He tensed for a moment when her skin touched his fur.

"Happy," she almost whispered, her voice straining. "What happened? What's going on?"

Happy shook his head and pressed himself further into her chest.

"He…it. It was so _scary_ and then…and then-Natsu-"

Lucy jerked her head up and tried searching for her friend at the mention of his name.

"Happy, where's Natsu?"

"Natsu! He-he got Natsu! He just-"

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down, Happy," mused Mirajane. She tried to appear calm, but Lucy could see the way her eyes strained and how her smile was thin. Lucy's stomach twisted. Her arms began to tremble, blood running cold.

Lucy slowly peeled Happy away from her chest and looked him in the eye. The poor cat was a mess: his eyes, swollen and red, were wide with terror, tears streamed down his cheeks, making the blue of his fur turn a dark shade of navy. She placed her palms on his cheeks and wiped at his tears with her thumbs. Happy sniffed, and his sobs began to dissolve. His little paws grasped onto her wrists and gripped with all their might.

"Natsu…he...he was kind of attacked? It all happened so fast I…I didn't know what happened. But it seemed to be taking him over or something. Next thing I knew, he was yelling at me to go to the guild, and it was Natsu but…wasn't him…like it was his voice, but it sounded very scary. Very not-Natsu," Happy started.

Lucy's mouth slowly parted, her eyes widening a fraction. Her stomach twisted painfully again. _Something attacked Natsu? And he couldn't beat it?_

His sobbing picked up again. "A-and there was nothing I could do! I just floated there for a second and couldn't move. I couldn't do anything!"

Mira walked around the bar and crouched to make herself eye level with Happy. The smile was gone from her face, her jaw clenched. Her hands were fists at her side, but even Lucy could see how much they shook.

"What attacked him, Happy," Mira said slowly.

Just as Happy was about to speak again, Jet raced through the doors.

"Guys! Something's attacking the town! South-side! It's tearing everything apart!"

 _Southside. That's near Happy and Natsu's place._

The blood drained from her face, and she slowly turned back to Happy. The cat's eyes were wide, terrified. He stared up at Lucy with those huge, tear-filled eyes, and she knew. Something had been scratching at her all morning, but the look he gave her confirmed her suspicions.

Her blood flushed from her body. Erza was the first to speak up and yelled something that jumbled in her ears. Her mind was laser focused. She could only think of one thing as she was hauled out of the hall and started to the explosions in the distance:

"Natsu."

The scene they arrived to was straight out of one of her novels: fire everywhere, in the buildings, in the bushes, on…people. Smoke clawed out of buildings like caged animals, ignoring those caught inside. The smell was just as bad as the sight, if not worse. Smoke, sweat, blood, so much blood. It all invaded and enveloped her senses so fast; she barely had time to clamp a hand over her mouth before it tore its way into her throat. Lucy couldn't help but gag at the smell and taste of it all.

People everywhere were screaming, pleading for help. Civilians raced paced her, and she barely managed to keep herself standing. Mothers held their children precariously out of windows of the burning buildings to those waiting below. Lucy couldn't stand the sight of it and had a hard time holding in her breakfast.

If it wasn't the people themselves, it was the creature, far enough in the distance for her to not be able to see its features but close enough to smell the death and decay and hear its vicious roars. The roars that were purely demonic, dark and scratchy, like gravel thrown into a paper shredder. It was animalistic, rough and deep, but with a hint of something else. Something raw. Something...human.

Erza stepped forward, breaking her from her thoughts.

"Alright, everyone! Spread out! Shadow Gear and Thunder Legion! You handle rescues. Make sure everyone is safe and stays that way. Wendy! Help the rescue teams. Make sure everyone makes it out of here alive! Gray! Lucy! You're with me! Everyone else, try and back up the rescuers and keep the damage to a minimum! And make sure that thing doesn't get any farther than this square!"

The instant she finished, everyone kicked into gear. Lucy raced to Erza's side, closely followed by Gray.

"Please tell me you have some kind of plan," Gray asked.

Erza slowly shook her head, her eyes glued to the creature slowly lumbering towards them.

"We just have to take it down as fast as possible. No matter the cost. We can't let that creature harm any more people," she stated through gritted teeth, her face almost impassive. She took a quick breath and broke off into a sprint after the creature.

Lucy locked eyes with Gray and nodded, turning to face the demon as well. Lucy took a steadying breath, trying to calm her racing heart. She shook out her hands. Her lip snuck between her teeth. Then she too was racing after the creature.

She could only imagine Happy's reaction to the chaos that was Magnolia and she thanked the gods that he was passed out in the guild hall. No one should have gone through something like that, least of all Happy. That's why she was pleased when her peers had left him behind in the safety of the hall.

"Open!" she called, slashing her key downwards. "Gate of the archer! Sagittarius!"

She pointed the key ahead of her to the roof of a building above the demon. Seconds later, a bright light flashed into existence. A man in a horse costume carrying a fairly large bow appeared, his hand already saluting her even from a distance away. Lucy pointed towards the demon as she pulled out her second key. As she neared, she saw Sagittarius nod and lift his bow to aim. She gripped the second key between her fingers and swiped it downwards as well.

"Open! Gate of the Lion! Leo!"

A light, even brighter than Sagittarius', flashed into existence beside her. Loke, wild orange mane and all, appeared beside her matching her pace.

"What are we up against this time?" he questioned, his tone serious.

Lucy panted, feeling the slight pull on her magic from summoning two spirits. She grit her teeth. There was no time for her to be getting the least bit tired; the citizens of Magnolia were in danger.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, it was strong enough to beat Natsu pretty easily so watch out."

Loke nodded, his eyes never leaving those of the demon.

As they neared, the true monstrosity of it came into view, and she had to bit her lip to suppress the gasp. It was coated in dark, inky liquid that dripped onto the cobblestone path, coating it with its oily substance. It was tall, the top of its head almost reaching the second floors of the surrounding buildings, with great horns that curved back to form a sort of helm of dark ivory. Its dark wings shot out from behind him, almost touching the buildings on either side of him. Its large, sharp claws nearly the size of her shoe slashed at the few people that tried to escape around him, instantly setting him ablaze. He tossed a ball of fire with his other hand into the apartment building just behind Lucy, sending embers in every direction. His muscular, shadowy arms tensed as it caught sight of the small group before him. His golden eyes widened a fraction before narrowing on each of them. It paused and scanned each of them individually before stopping on her. Lucy clenched her fists and glared into its deep eyes, challenging it despite her fear almost overwhelming her.

Then the creature dipped its head and smirked, revealing its large sharp canines. It was almost as if it was taunting them, bragging. The shadows and inky liquid coating it slowly dripped down and off its skin. The creature itself began to shrink, its features becoming more defined. The wings seemed to flex and pulse as if trying to shake off the oily substance. The horns remained but the liquid melted from its body revealing...no.

It couldn't be.

The last of the ink slid down his cheek and dripped into the pool that formed beneath him revealing tanned skin. Lucy's eyes widened, her hands flying to her lips. He continued grinning at them, that same grin that used to make her heart skip, now infected by darkness and contorting into a mocking, baring of teeth. His eyes still golden, held a sort of insane mirth, something she had never seen in him in all of their years together. The dark horns, _his_ horns, protruded from his blazing pink hair like a dark inkblot on a crisp, clean page. It was foreign. It was out of place. It was... _wrong._

"Natsu," she murmured between her fingers.

She saw from the corner of her eye, Sagittarius' bow lower and Loke tense. She could hardly register the shock of her friends around her, their astonishment that their fire-breathing maniac of a friend had deliberately set fire to Magnolia and killed its residents. It was as though tunnel vision had taken her over and all she could see was Natsu. Crazed, destroying, and horn-toting Natsu but also...not-Natsu.

The creature-no _Natsu_ \- laughed, the noise something straight out of a horror novel. That wasn't Natsu's laugh. It was dark and gravelly and thick. It was as though someone had taken Natsu and infected him with dark magic.

"Nah, that guy's long gone. Made sure of that the moment I took over," he growled in his dark, evil voice.

"Liar." Lucy ground out the words. "That's not true, and you know it. Natsu's still in there."

"Lucy," Loke warned under his breath.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. A challenge.

"Oh really?" he taunted. "Why don't you come over and find out."

Lucy grit her teeth.

"I'm not going to do that. I can't fight you. I can't fight Natsu," she said.

Natsu's large, black claws flexed and a tick in his jaw clicked. The muscles in his shoulders tensed and Lucy saw, with a deep shot to the gut that his guild mark was nowhere to be seen, instead covered by a large, black stain. He snarled and reeled back on his haunches.

Natsu leaped in the air, launching himself directly at her before she could even register he had left the ground. Lucy couldn't think of what to do other than squeeze her eyes shut.

But no attack came.

She slowly peeled her eyes open to see a pair of glasses and a bright orange mane staring down at her with wide eyes. Natsu slammed into the cobblestone where she had just stood, smashing the rock and sending debris in all directions. Adrenaline shot like lightning throughout her body, and her eyes shot wide. That could have been her. Terror flashed through her, sending a chill down her spine. She slowly lifted her eyes to Natsu's, expecting pure hatred and rage.

Instead, she saw a flash of onyx, gone so fast she thought she was imagining things. He didn't immediately charge at her. He could have easily released a fire attack and killed them instantly, but he chose not to. Because Natsu was still in there and Natsu couldn't kill them. And if Natsu was fighting, so would she.

Lucy gulped and took a calming breath.

"Loke," she said, her voice steady.

Sensing her intentions, he placed her on the ground.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

"So do I. Wish me luck?" Lucy said, lifting her eyes to him with a smirk.

He chuckled, a bit more strained than she would have hoped but he mimicked her smirk. He shifted his glasses and placed his hands on his hip.

"You don't need it. You're Lucky, Lucy Heartfilia, remember," he retorted.

Lucy grabbed his arm as he turned to return to the Celestial World. Loke paused. His eyes glanced to the fingers that gripped his black, suit sleeve then followed them up his wizard's arm to her determined face. Her eyes stared at the ground, her mind somewhere else.

"I want you to promise me something, Loke."

Loke slowly turned to face her, the corners of his lips quirked. "Anything for you, Princess."

Lucy rolled her eyes. She paused and took a breath, choosing her words carefully. She couldn't risk him coming back.

"Promise me you won't come back. No matter what. I don't want Natsu hurt in any way-"

"Lucy-"

"Promise me," she repeated. Lucy lifted her eyes to his. "No matter what. You have to trust me."

The spirit stared at her for a moment, eyes searching for something, anything that indicated doubt. Instead, he found a fire, an unwavering determination to Natsu. He could feel her emotions through the keys, how much she cared, how much she _really_ cared, about the dragon slayer and how much she absolutely needed to save him.

He sighed and inevitably nodded.

"Just try not to blow up the town, ok? Magnolia's kind of grown on me over the years," he said, dissolving into gold stars with Sagittarius soon behind.

Lucy rolled her eyes as she snatched at her whip and raced to Natsu, still crouched and stared at her with those deep golden eyes. Erza requipped a few feet away from her and Gray pressed his fist to his palm, mist already forming at its center.

"Natsu's still in there, I know it! We just have to draw it out!" she called out to them. "But try not to hurt him! We don't want to hit Natsu!"

Gray paused a moment before nodding. Natsu roared and charged toward the group. Erza let out a battle cry, racing to meet him halfway. She jerked up her Flame Empress sword, countering his fiery slash.

"Now, Lucy!" she cried, grunting against his force.

"Natsu!" Lucy called, leaping back behind Gray. "I know you're in there! If you can hear me, please say something!"

Natsu growled when Erza held her ground against his attack. His claw closed around her sword. Erza's eyes widened. Natsu pivoted his body abruptly, extending his wings and slamming into Erza's side. With a resounding _oof!_ Erza was sent skidding backward. She barely managed to keep herself upright.

Natsu slashed down with his dark claws, narrowly missing Erza's head and threw a large, deep orange fireball directly at Gray. He barely managed to throw up a shield before the ball barreled into him, sending him careening sideways.

"You're stronger than this, and you know it!" she cried, staying on the edge of the battle, searching for an opening. Lucy tightened her grip on her whip handle, attempting to stop her trembling hands.

Natsu turned his focus back on Erza, ignoring Lucy's voice again, his attacks doubling in speed and ferocity. He growled when she deflected almost all of his blows. His sharp claws clanged against the metal of her blades, not hitting her a single time.

Gray let out a war cry and slammed his hands onto the cobblestone streets. A stream of ice shot from his fingertips, racing along the floor towards Natsu's clawed feet. The ice quickly encased around his talons, rooting him to the floor. Natsu snarled, his eyes lifting to zero in on Gray.

"Come on, Flame Brain," Gray yelled. "Snap out of it!"

Natsu kicked against the barriers at his feet. His body began to heat at an alarming rate, sending excruciating waves of heat in all directions. Lucy threw her hands to her face, shielding herself from the blast. The clamps at his feet melted almost instantly, and Natsu's black wings flexed. He lifted off the ground and charged at Gray.

"We're not leaving here without you, Natsu!" Erza tried, requiping into her Black Wing Armor. She raised the sword above her head, ready to jump to Gray's defense.

Lucy slashed her arm down, sending the whip to wrap around his foot. She slammed the whip to the ground with a grunt. Natsu crashed, hard, to the ground, splintering the brick road. Lucy winced. The sound of skull hitting concrete was unmistakable.

The snarl that left his maw, the sound deep and gravely. Definitely not Natsu. He snatched at the whip wrapped around his feet, ripping it above his head taking Lucy with it. Lucy screamed. She heard Gray and Erza call her name as she slammed back to the heard. Her head smashed into the cobblestone with a sickening crack, the air forced from her lungs.

Stars exploded across her vision, shattering and shooting in every direction. The world twisted and tumbled, churning like waves in the middle of a storm. She felt pressure then a sharp snap in her arm, a cry flying past her lips before she could catch it. She clenched her jaw, trying to block out the pain.

Someone shrieked, the sharp noise piercing through the loud ringing in her ears. Lucy lifted her head, dropping it a moment later.

Lucy lolled her head to the side, toward the scream. A large black blur lifted a red figure and tossed it haphazardly to the side, shooting into the air a moment later. Lucy blinked and blinked, but the dots would not fade. A deep voice bellowed and stared up at where the blur had shot. Lucy clenched her eyes shut, hoping that her vision would finally focus.

She opened her eyes just in time to see Natsu dive into Gray. Gray let out a deep, gravelly bellow as he used his Ice Make abilities to keep himself upright. He coated his fist with ice and aimed it at the demon. Natsu dodged with inhuman speed. He threw a hand out and snatched Gray's other fist before it made contact. His golden eyes glinted. Gray faltered. Before he could blink, Natsu threw a flaming punch into his gut, sending Gray flying into a building fifty feet away.

"Please, Natsu! This isn't like you!" she called weakly.

Natsu snarled and turned his dark gaze onto her. Then there was only her.

Lucy's stomach twisted sharply, and adrenaline shot through her like a bullet. She was the last line of defense against Natsu's reign of terror. She had to throw everything she had at him. She turned on her stomach, the world finally starting to even out. Her arms trembled as she pushed herself onto her elbow. She wouldn't let her fear show. She had to be strong, if not for herself but for him.

She stared back at him, firmly holding her gaze with his flashing golden one. He smirked again, egging her on. He lifted a shadowy claw to his mouth and licked something, blood, from its tip.

"And then there was one. If an Ice Make wizard and the great Titania couldn't take me down, a Celestial Spirit mage who can hardly move should be a piece of cake," Natsu taunted, strutting his way towards her.

"I know you're still in there. I know you can hear me," Lucy grunted, making sure that he heard every word she said despite her frail voice.

"I'm getting very tired of your playing the hero thing you're doing right now. Really starting to piss me off," Natsu said, the smirk dropping from his face. He crouched beside her head, cocking his head. Analyzing her.

Lucy gulped. She steeled herself for her next attack. She knew she was likely not going to make it out of here, but if she could disturb him, somehow make Natsu fight back against this thing, it would be worth it. She took a breath.

"What would Igneel think?" Natsu tensed. "He would be ashamed to see you beaten without much of a fight!"

His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. His wings jerked open. He roared, a gruesome, oily noise and hardly gave Lucy time to think before he pounced on her and flipped her over. His claws closed over her throat.

"How dare you call me a coward?" the beast bellowed, squeezing.

She glared up at him, ignoring the pounding in her ears. She felt the blood rush to her face. She gulped at air desperately, wishing his knees weren't pinning her hands down. The gold in his eyes faltered, flickering to onyx for all but a moment. Natsu shook his head violently. The hand loosened and Lucy gasped.

She turned her eyes to meet his as he raised a large blackened claw above his head. Lucy's eyes slammed shut. Natsu snarled as he brought it down.

Warm liquid dripped down the side of her face, tracing a line down the side of her neck. She waited in anticipation for the pain of an attack that didn't seem to come. More warm droplets trailed down the side of her cheek, her neck, and even down her shoulder. For a moment, she wondered if it was raining, if suddenly he had moved and it had begun to rain.

But then she tasted more blood, more iron in her mouth and tried to open her eyes. She knew that he had, in fact, cut her, carved a deep wound from the top of her brow to the tip of her shoulder and that one of her eyes would not open. The warm substance wasn't rain. It was blood. Her blood.

It registered then. The pain, the excruciating pain that rippled through her like a wave beating against an ocean. It felt as though someone had placed a hot dagger at her brown and carved a sharp line down the length of her form. Her eyes flashed white, and she screamed.

She screamed so loud that her ears rang. She let out a scream that tore and ripped and clawed its way up her throat and out her mouth. She screamed so loud that even Natsu recoiled. She thrashed beneath his clawed feet pressing her arms into the stone street, the pain just not subsiding even a fraction. It just kept crashing into her, wave after wave of white hot, spasming pain.

Tears streamed from her eyes, the salty liquid stinging more as it leaked from her unopened eye and touched the fresh wounds. Her screams turned shrill, like nails on a chalkboard, making the hair on her arms stand on end. More tears spilled over her cheeks, creating a seemingly infinite cycle of agony.

Natsu roared somewhere above her. Thick hands pressed back down on her neck, instantly cutting her off. Lucy choked and gasped, desperately scrambling for air. Her body thrashed again, more violent, more desperate than before. This time it did it out of a need to live rather than pain. Lucy could do nothing but desperately gasp and try and gulp down air she desperately needed in her lungs. Blood raced past her ears, trying to get as much oxygen to her brain as possible.

Natsu said something above her, but the ringing in her ears overwhelmed her senses. She could only focus on one thing. Air. Air. She needed air.

"Natsu," she choked out. One final attempt. One last try. "Please."

Her limbs grew cold and limp, her thrashings slowing to a stop. Lucy struggled to keep her eyes open. Her chokes turned into pitiful whimpers. Blackness encroached on the edges of her vision. Her lungs screamed for air, for something, for anything.

She looks up at Natsu one last time and swears she see his onyx eyes flash into focus again.

Someone called her name from somewhere behind.

Then, as suddenly as he was on her, the weight loosened. Lucy gasped and gulped and clawed at any air she could get her hands on. Color returned to her vision, but her limbs still refused to function.

She felt her body go weightless, felt her body being pulled from the ground, her feet leaving it. And then the hand around her neck was gone too. But she was still weightless. Still flying. Air whooshed passed her violently, too quick for her to be falling.

She slammed into a hard surface and crumpled into a heap.

And then there was nothing.

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 _A/N: PHEW...so...THAT happened...and talk about a reveal~~ TOTALLY didn't see it coming, right? SUCH A SHOCK. (i mean unless it WAS a shock for you in which case, I have achieved a shock yessssss). but serially... Natsu r u ok bro?_ _AND POOR HAPPY!_

 _Tell me what you thought! What do you think of the crazy demon? Creepy enough? Gross? Just different? And how about Team Natsu running to the rescue!_

 _(please make sure to leave spoilers out of the reviews!)_


	4. Chapter 4: The Greatest Sacrifice

_A/N: AAANNNNDD HERE'S THE OTHER PART ASSSS PROMISED! YAY! I'm going to be publishing each chapter on a weekly basis from now on so I can devote more time to writing and refining them. Hope it's not a problem for ya...SOOO HERE YA GO! this was one of the hardest chapters because arguments are awful and I had to remember every detail about each character and it was really hard to put into words ahahaha... ENJOY!_

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Prompt: Sacrifice

The Greatest Sacrifice

Lucy stared blankly at each grain of wood on the floor of the guildhall, eye glazed over. Fifty percent of her vision was non-existent, black, empty. The eye itself had swollen completely shut, but even if it hadn't, the gauze wrapped tightly around it would have made it near impossible to see anyway. In fact, the white, blood-stained fabric had been tied around her neck and a part of her shoulder. Her leg had also been wrapped in the bandage, and her left arm was now resting in a makeshift sling, still too fragile after Wendy's emergency care to move around freely.

She only remembered bits and pieces of the ordeal: her bruised guild members pulling her from the rubble, being rushed to the guild hall, waking up a few hours late to find her wounds covered and healing. Wendy had been completely drained of magic power; she had been sleeping in the guild's recovery room for almost three days now because of it. Her lack of magic had meant that she couldn't fully heal the gashes on Lucy's face and could barely heal her broken arm.

When it was all said and done, Lucy was the worst off compared to the rest of the guild. Most made it out with a few bruises and burns, but there were some whose wounds had required immediate care. Laxus had been one of the unlucky few with broken bones, one arm almost shattered from stopping a piece of concrete from crushing a little girl and his kneecap fractured from landing too hard on the ground. Wendy, who had already lost a good portion of her magic power from the hangover curing that morning, was sent to those patients first. The others were left to have their wounds tended to by Porlyusica, who grumbled as she wrapped gauze around cuts and rubbed potions around bruises.

The old woman had grimaced when she finally made her way to Lucy. She had lifted the dirty, blood-stained wraps on Lucy's face and audibly hissed. She had done all she could, used all potions and mixes that could help and had concluded that the wounds would never properly heal, even if Wendy had a go at them. That they would leave permanent scars. She had mentioned something about demon's claws, but Lucy had stopped listening; the ringing in her ears was too loud. Not only would she always remember that terrible feeling, not only of helplessness but also of the excruciating pain, but she would also forever wear the scars as a constant reminder.

The guild buzzed around her, papers and maps collected from the last few days strewn about in every direction. Every wizard, ignoring their wounds, poured over notes and letters as they followed the demon-Natsu-across Fiore, tracking his every movement. Macao and Wakaba were going at it, both claiming that each other's sources were invalid, only meant to throw off the trail. Levy adorned her reading glasses and had every book imaginable on demons, attacks, possession, anything she could get her hands on that could help her further understand the situation.

There were only four individuals that were crumpled off to the side, staring at nothing in particular, too lost in thought to pay anyone else any mind: Gray, Erza, Happy, and herself. Happy, however, had long since curled up on Lucy's lap and cried himself to sleep. Lucy would have been right there with him had she not been so in shock, so utterly numb. She wished that she was sad, or angry or scared or worried or anything. Anything that wasn't nothing at all.

It was as though she was having a sort of out of body experience. She could still see everything her eyes were seeing, but it was as though a wall had come between her and her body. It felt as though she was a puppet, and something else was controlling her, but her consciousness was trapped inside, banging on an invisible wall trying to regain control.

She didn't even feel the sting and throb of her wounds anymore. It was like her entire body sank in a tub of ice cold water.

Erza and Gray were a different story. Erza sat at a nearby table; her head bowed facing the floor, her arms crossed over her knees. Bruises had emerged along her jaw and collarbone from where Natsu had likely landed a few good hits. A long, thick layer of gauze was bound around her head and hadn't moved, hadn't said anything while they had been sitting there. And that had been almost five hours now. Gray had yet to take off one scrap of clothing save for his necklace. He twirled it between his fingers, stroking the sword's rough edges. His lips were set in a hard, thin line, his eyes never leaving his pendant. He too sported a handful of bruises though he had been given a lot more than a few scrapes and broken ribs. His arm hung in a sling similar to Lucy's though his arm and hand had yet to heal. He propped his splinted leg out in front of him from his unmoving position on the floor, his crutches lying haphazardly at his side. Any movement, whether it be a twitch, a readjustment, or a bump, made Gray hiss and grimace.

Every so often, someone would race past them and completely forget that the group was there only to remember when one of their legs would catch on Gray's foot or a loose paper would land beside Erza's after spilling from their hands. None of them would move. No one would react. The person would mutter a hasty apology, if they said anything at all, and raced to where they were heading.

"This says Natsu's made his way to Hargeon already. Luckily they evacuated in time. Would've been a disaster if they hadn't," said one member. Macao.

"Stop saying that. That thing isn't Natsu anymore," countered another. Wakaba?

Lucy blinked. That wasn't true. She refused to believe it. She finally lifted her head to stare at the pair. Macao nodded in response to Wakaba's comment, his jaw clenching, and Adam's apple bobbing.

"Right."

Cana stood from her seat next to Macao, the large barrel that usually accompanied her surprisingly absent and nowhere to be seen. Her face too had taken on a striking hardness; her eyes narrowed, shoulders tensed. She had never seen her friend so ferocious, her features reminding her more of Erza than her usually laid back, alcohol drinking self.

"We can't just sit here doing nothing. We have to do something about this. We have to stop it," Cana stated, eyes flashing.

The guild quieted, eyes darting to Cana as she moved to stand in front of the large map of Fiore in the center of the room. Erza lifted her head to watch Cana move, the gears in her head turning. Gray froze stroking his pendant. Makarov sat atop a nearby table, staring down at the map, deep in thought. Without looking at the girl, he opened his mouth.

"What did you have in mind?" he retorted with a hollowness in his voice.

Wizards began to filter in behind Cana as she stood staring, a finger on her chin, as she glanced at the map and the papers in her hands.

The map itself was already covered with various reports of sightings and pictures of burning chaos, thumbtacks pinpointing the location of each attack. A red string connected the tacks by order of occurrence. Cana got down on her knees and pressed a finger to the edge of the red line, tracing along its length. She swore under her breath.

"He's heading straight for the capital."

The room gasped. Lucy's eyes widened, feeling herself start to fall back into her body.

"But why would he do that?"

" _It._ That thing isn't Natsu."

"But why the capital? What's over there that he-it-wants?"

"To destroy. To attack as many people as possible," Cana interrupted. "That's all those demons want."

Lucy felt her blood come back to life, bubbling and churning in her stomach. The mention of the beast broke her from her disassociation.

"Once, it gets to Crocus, there's no telling how bad it'll get. It might even be worse than the situation with the Eclipse gate."

Cana turned back to the map, tracing over several smaller dots between the edge of the string and the capital. The guild members around her murmured nervously, frightened concerns passing between them. Levy remained in the corner, watching the confrontation intently but staying back. She passed silent words with Gajeel, both wearing grave expressions as they assessed the situation. Lucy's heart picked up as she watched the faces around Cana darken and narrowed in on the town she was tapping.

"There. That one. Amaryllis. It's small enough that there won't be a lot of people but big enough that it'll want to attack that one next," Cana stated. "It'll likely have enough buildings in the center of town where we can ambush it."

The guild erupted into a chorus of shouts and hoots of agreement. Makarov continued to stare down at the map, still deep in thought. He didn't react to a word Cana said; he didn't even acknowledge her. Cana picked a card from her deck and threw it to the small point on the map, the corner piercing its black center. Lucy's heart dropped. Did that mean they...

"Wh-what are you going to do once you find him?" Lucy said, her voice cracking after not being used for a few days.

The crowd quieted, turning to face her. Cana locked eyes with Lucy, staring her down. Challenging her, but also holding a hint of softness in her expression.

"What'd you say?" Cana asked, without any trace of malice she had a few moments before.

Lucy carefully lifted Happy from her lap and placed him on the floor next to her, unsure of what she would do in the next few minutes. She cleared her throat then tried again. "What're you going to do when you find him? What then?" She kept her voice steady, trying to suppress the fear and anger that started coursing through her veins. She knew exactly what they wanted to do to him; she just wanted to hear them say it.

Cana blinked. She paused a moment, just staring back at Lucy. Then she sighed, her fingers massaging the bridge of her nose.

"Look, Lucy…"

"No, you can't do that!" Lucy cried, leaping to her feet. She started towards the group. "Natsu's still in there! You can't just k-kill him."

Erza flew from her chair, kicking it back behind her. Gray glanced up from his position on the floor, his fingers freezing on his pendant. The guild hall tensed. No one said a word. Everyone froze like statues in a wax museum. Cana took a calming breath and closed her eyes. Jet narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to argue her, but Cana shot out an arm, cutting him off.

"Lucy, you have to understand. That thing isn't Natsu," Cana stated, clearly and calmly, a hint of impatience in her tone.

Lucy clenched her free fist, her teeth grinding against each other.

"No, _you_ need to understand. Do you know how many times Natsu has saved you? Has saved all of us?" she questioned, her voice rising. "But the second he needs us to save him, you all resort to the just killing him? How could you people do that?"

She shifted her gaze to the crowd around the brunette. Some mages turned to one another, doubt rising in their expressions. Jet's eyes softened, his shoulders slacken. Cana just kept staring her down, her muscles slowly flexing. Her nostrils flared and her lips pressed into a tight, thin line.

"Did you try and kill Laxus when he made us attack each other? Or Freed? Evergreen or Bickslow? No. You just gave them a slap on the wrist and left it at that."

"Lucy…" Cana warned, her voice sharpening.

"He's just having a hard time with this enemy. And he needs us to help him. If we could just talk to him, to try and reason with him then maybe…"

"We've already tried, Lucy," Mira said from the bar. "And he wasn't listening, and you were almost killed-"

"I saw him in there! He stopped the demon from killing me!" Lucy cried, stepping on the edge of the map. "Natsu would never hurt his friends.."

" _Lucy!"_ Cana screamed. Lucy's blood ran cold. Cana glared down at her, her clenched fists shaking at her sides. Her chest heaved, her face reddened.

"Look in the mirror! You almost had your damn face ripped off! And it was so close to killing you. If it had choked you a moment longer, you would have died in the middle of town."

The guild hall was silent, only being cut by Cana's heavy breathing. Lucy's eyes widened. She couldn't think of how to respond, how to retort. She gulped, massaging the bruises blossoming on her throat. Each guild member slowly turned to face Cana whose body had begun to tremble. Her fists slackened. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face to the floor.

"If I had been a second late," she said, her voice cracking. "That thing would have killed you. And I would have lost another friend that day."

A stray tear dropped onto the map, and Cana had to grit her teeth to keep from breaking down right there in the middle of the guild hall.

"That's why we have to stop him. I can't lose another friend, and I can't let anyone else go through something like that."

Lucy bit her lip, hesitant. She wanted to argue more; she knew that she wasn't wrong, that she wasn't crazy. That she _had_ seen Natsu in there. But she couldn't just stand to see Cana so torn apart by it. Her voice softened.

"What if he's not lost? What if-"

A cold hand closed over her shoulder. Lucy turned to see Gray, still staring at the floorboards, his eyes glazed over. He blinked and turned his gaze to her. She saw how hard this was for him, the way his jaw clenched, the intense pressure of his grip on her shoulder, the way his sharp eyes stared at nothing in particular.

"Lucy, you saw the way he acted. You saw how he attacked us, how he attacked you," he murmured. "You said it yourself: Natsu would never hurt his friends."

Lucy's heart twisted, her words stopping in her throat. Tears pricked her eyes. She bit her lip to keep it in.

"And I know for a fact that he'd never hurt an innocent. What do you think his reaction would be if he found out what he had done?" Erza added, stepping up behind her and placing her uninjured hand on Lucy's other shoulder.

Lucy glanced at the wizard and actually looked at her. Her brown eyes strained, red from lack of sleep and accentuated by dark, purple bruises. The red of her hair looked flat, lacking its usual vibrancy and life. Her voice was hoarse. Her throat bobbed. Lucy had never seen the mage this troubled, this distressed. That's what struck one last chord.

"I've known Natsu for years," she continued, turning to Lucy, "and I know that he would rather die than be the cause of the death of an innocent, let alone his fellow guild member. Let alone you."

Lucy's stomach knotted, twisting over and over again like taffy being pulled. Her heart clenched tightly. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip. Her breath hitched. There were too many people. Too many watching. The tears were coming, and she wouldn't be able to stop them.

"M-Master," she choked, her last strand of hope riding on whatever he might say. She clenched her fists, forcing back the unwanted tears. "Master, please don't let them go through with this."

The crowd slowly turned to face the small, unmoving and frozen in his position looking, glaring, at the map. His jaw clicked. A grumble resonated from deep within him as he contemplated his options. He slowly closed his eyes and clenched the fingers around his staff. The guild seemed to hold its breath. Lucy froze, realizing that anticipation itself was more excruciating than the answer she could already hear him giving her.

He carefully released a breath and opened his eyes.

"For the sake of all Fiore and the safety of all my children, we must move on with Cana's plan, no matter the cost."

Her chest heaved, air refusing to stay in her lungs longer than a few seconds. Her blood ran cold.

Next thing she knew, she was pushing the large, wooden doors closed and sliding down its base. She pressed a hand to her mouth and clamped her eyes shut. Silent tears streamed down her face, soaking into the white gauze blanketing the right side of her body. She curled herself into a ball against the door, tensing her muscles as tight as possible, terrified that the instant she let go, she would fall apart.

They were right. They were all right. She knew they were right, but that didn't mean that it was ok. It was what he would have wanted. It was what was good for her guild. Good for the people of Fiore.

She just wished that she didn't have to sacrifice her own happiness to save that of everyone else.

* * *

 _A/N: Sooo what'd ya think? Was Cana's plan too rash or was it logical? The smart, safer option? Was the guild too quick to write off Natsu or did their decision make sense? Do you think Natsu's still alive in there? Let me know in the review section what you think! I'm eager to see what you guys are thinking...and if there's a particular line that sticks out to you, let me know! I'm always curious to see what sticks to people..._

 _P.S: I'm anticipating a longer chapter next time, it being the climax and all; probably at least 5000...hopefully. Its prompt is "Battle" if that gives you any idea as to what is to come ahahaha...ALSO I'm going to go back at some point and edit the last few chapters just to make sure the timeline works..._

 _Have a good day!_

 _(please make sure to leave spoilers out of the reviews!)_


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